by Sandy » Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:08 am
Midwestern and Gateway, formerly Golden Gate, are actually in pretty good shape in terms of both enrollment and finances compared to the other four and over the past several years are the only SBC seminaries that have shown actual growth in enrollment. Golden Gate sold their campus in Mill Valley, CA for $85 million, paid off all their indebtedness, purchased and paid for a new campus in Ontario, CA and moved into a metro area with 15 million people and added $50 million to their endowment. They've been far more innovative than the other schools with satellite campus locations and on-line programs and are seeing their enrollment increase. Midwestern has undergone a complete renaissance. Part of that is due to their more innovative, less traditional approach to seminary education with online and satellite campuses, part of it due to the sale of some property and assets which enabled them to renovate and add some new facilities to a dilapidated campus. I think I read somewhere that they have outgrown New Orleans and moved into the #2 spot in terms of total number of students and are #3 in FTE.
I am most concerned about my seminary alma mater, Southwestern. Perhaps William can share some insights regarding the financial report they turned in to the SBC, the seminaries were supposed to report at about 10 this morning. Their debt load seems to be a bit on the high side and their enrollment is still declining.